LUKOIL to mount 80% of meters at refinery in Bulgaria in 3 months

The LUKOIL president noted that his company offers fuel at an affordable price

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SOFIA, September 28 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian oil company LUKOIL Bulgaria will install 80% of 276 measurement and control devices at the oil refinery Neftochim Burgas and the oil terminal Rosenets within 2-3 months, LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov, who arrived in Sofia on Tuesday, said on Wednesday.

Alekperov presented at a meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov the time schedule to mount the measuring equipment with the approximate cost of investments at about 40 million dollars.

“We do not have a conflict with the Bulgarian government, but lack an agreement on the deadlines and technical aspects with some Bulgarian organizations,” Alekperov said after the meeting with the prime minister on Wednesday. “It is obvious that the country’s government listens to us,” Alekperov said.

The LUKOIL president noted that his company offers fuel at an affordable price, and despite a high competition controls 54% of Bulgarian market.

On Wednesday, the Sofia Administrative Court delayed the hearings in the lawsuit, which the Russian oil company LUKOIL filed against the Bulgarian Customs Service, until November 9. The LUKOIL Bulgaria subsidiary filed a lawsuit against the Bulgarian Customs Service over the case for the illegal revocation of the fuel-keeping license at the oil refinery Neftochim Burgas and for blocking the oil terminal Rosenets. The Bulgarian Customs Service sealed up the stocks of the largest Russian oil producer in the country in July under the accusations that the latter did not install special meters to levy excise duties timely.

The trial was postponed over an uncompleted technical expertise, which was seeking to find whether the measurement and control equipment is being installed on the foresaid oil refinery and the oil terminal under the schedule, and to set the cost and duration of works. The experts asked for 45 more workdays to complete the expertise.

The Bulgarian Customs Service revoked the LUKOIL Bulgaria license on July 22 due to the fact that the company failed to install remote control meters timely. The oil refinery’s work was suspended. On August 1, the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court lifted the sanctions, which the customs services previously imposed, finding them unlawful and permitted to continue the oil production at the LUKOIL Bulgaria oil refinery before the court proceedings in the Sofia Administrative Court.